


Calm

by peacehopeandrats



Series: Monthly Rumbelling 2021 [7]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: A Monthly Rumbelling February 2021 (Once Upon A Time), Fluff, Fluffapalooza, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-12 16:34:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29387796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peacehopeandrats/pseuds/peacehopeandrats
Summary: Belle and Rumple are just starting out together in Storybrooke. They've gone from living together in the Dark Castle to living together in Gold's house and Belle needs a little of the life they might have lived in between.Written for February's Monthly Rumbelling.
Relationships: Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold
Series: Monthly Rumbelling 2021 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2088708
Comments: 14
Kudos: 37





	Calm

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of the giving hands, candy bowl, and clock pictured in February's Monthly Rumbelling moodboard, shown here: https://a-monthly-rumbelling.tumblr.com/post/641933258078257152/prompts-for-february

Belle was mesmerized by the bowl of unwrapped candy that sat out on the drug store counter. Filled with pinks, yellows, whites, and pale greens, the thick glass seemed to enlarge each granule of sugar that coated the confections, making them twinkle like stars in the false neon light. They consumed her very being as if she had never seen such a thing in her life. The combination of color and shape seemed never to be repeated among the tiny objects and she wondered where the collection had come from.

“You’re welcome to take one, if you want,” Sneezy told her. The sudden sound of his voice made her jump out of her skin.

“Oh, no. I… I wasn’t really… They’re just so unusual. I’ve never seen candies this shape before. Where did you get them?” The invitation to partake seemed a decent enough excuse for Belle to lift the glass bowl in her hands and turn it before her eyes. Everything inside seemed covered in glitter and her senses anticipated the tiny crunch of biting into one, almost making her feel the crystals become sugary powder in her imagination.

The dwarf shrugged. “The sweet shop down the road. They’re free samples.”

“Free advertising, too.” Belle grinned at him and set the bowl down. Gummies weren’t necessarily her thing, all chew and little flavor usually left her feeling completely unsatisfied, but for some reason her mind wouldn’t let the idea of the treats and their container alone. She turned on her heel to look at the shelves near the store window and pouted as a simple thought churned in her head. “You know what, though?”

Behind the counter, Sneezy asked a question, but Belle didn’t answer. Instead she marched away, over to where the bags of snacks dangled from clips and display bars. Her sudden craving was irrational, and she wasn’t certain that Rumple would be an easy sell, but the candies had left her feeling both adventurous and lazy and she could think of only one cure for that specific combination.

Returning to the register with her arms filled, she dropped her desired items onto the counter and looked up at Sneezy with a grin. “Well, what didn’t work for the candy shop worked for you. I’ll take this, please.”

“That was a quick decision.” He continued the conversation as if such a random purchase was an everyday occurrence in the store, talking as he scanned, then bagged each item she’d dumped before him. “Are you planning something special?”

Belle shrugged, but smiled. “I don’t know yet.” She had never truly courted anyone before, or been courted herself. That whole fiasco with Gaston was not something she was willing to look back on as any sort of proper date and there hadn’t really been more than a line of suitors before that. Her life had run backwards to the modern ideas of this realm, where couples learned about each other and spent time together before sharing a life.

She and Rumple had been granted a time of endless flirtation when she’d gone to live with him in the Dark Castle and she looked back on those times with fondness, but a fleeting moment of romantic uncertainty hardly counted as a date either. Here in Storybrooke they had been out for burgers, and taken a walk or two, but Rumple kept insisting that their options for outside entertainment were limited and so they had been existing in much the same way as they had in the Enchanted Forest. 

Now that the purchase had been made, Belle began to question her own spontaneity. She couldn’t help but wonder if his avoidance of the traditional relationship was simply a matter of preference. Perhaps Rumplestiltskin wasn’t the kind of man who enjoyed courting the woman he cared for. She knew that he worried someone might use her against him, just as Regina had, but would that concern keep him from enjoying what she had planned?

Thinking back to their days in the castle, Belle tried to compare her modern idea against whatever she might have shared with Rumple in that distant place. Hoping for some similarity, she allowed images to flash through her mind, judging one against the other with no success. There really was no comparison, so all she could do was hope that Rumple would agree to go along with her silly fancies.

“I guess I’ll just wait and see.” She smiled at Sneezy, hoping the gesture would boost her confidence

The dwarf blinked at her in confusion as she paid. “Well, enjoy.” He handed her the overstuffed bag and opened his mouth to say more, but a sneeze consumed the rest of his words, forcing him to simply wave his farewell.

Running her arm through the bag’s handles so that she could carry it and leave her hands free, Belle departed. She tried not to rush down the street to the pawnshop, but found her strides lengthening quickly as she walked. Her heart was light, yet it thumped hard in her chest with the anticipation of the unusual evening she so suddenly craved. 

The shop’s bell chimed when she entered and Rumple looked up, eyes brightening into a smile. “There you are,” he beamed, then pointed to the bag hanging from her arm. “What’s all this?”

“A surprise,” Belle told him as she approached the counter and set it there. She kept her arm through the handles, hoping it would deter him from investigating, though she knew it probably wouldn’t. “Or an adventure. I’m not really sure which yet. It’s something we’ve never done before.”

Rumple’s eyebrows raised and a devilish look consumed him. “Is that so?” His fingers snaked out to fondle the bag’s opening when he spoke, but she swatted them away.

“I said it was a surprise,” she scolded through a giggle, then eyed him cautiously. “I just want to try something and I want you to agree to do it with me even if you don’t know what it is yet.”

This got Rumplestiltskin’s full attention. His body straightened and his eyes filled with a mix of concern and curiosity. After all of their time living together, Belle had picked up on a few things. She knew exactly which suggestions would appeal to the instincts he’d collected after so many years in his cursed life. The Dark One couldn’t resist a deal and while this actually wasn’t a deal, it smelled enough like one to lure him in.

He hummed as he pondered his options, weight shifting to one hip while his head tilted to the side as it always did when he was weighing risk against reward. “You want me to agree to a plan that you aren’t even certain of yourself,”

“Well, I know what the plan is. I just don’t know how it might work out. We’ll just have to see how things go as we do it. It will be an adventure.”

“And where will this ‘adventure’ take place?” Rumple’s eyebrows raised.

Belle hesitated, not wanting to hand over too much information at once, for fear he might balk at the idea or find it otherwise utterly ridiculous. Eventually she shrugged. “At home.”

“And I can’t look at what’s in the bag?”

She shook her head.

Rumple’s brown eyes darkened with intense desire, but he remained otherwise still. “Can I have one hint?”

“No,” Belle huffed before she took a step from the counter to bring the bag out of his view. “It wouldn’t be a surprise if you knew everything about it, but I _will_ tell you it isn’t what you’re thinking.”

“You’ve gained the gift of mind reading, have you?” Despite his seeming desire to protest, Rumple was, in fact, preparing to close the shop as they talked. He cleared the counter, shut the box he had been sorting through, and carried it back to the cabinet where it belonged, cane tapping as he moved.

Belle followed him with her eyes, noticing the cut of his suit and how his body filled it. “I don’t have to be,” she told him before tucking her lip into her teeth. “I can read a man’s body, you know.”

She was rewarded with the quirk of a smile and Rumple’s rich chuckle. “All right,” he said at last. “I’ll keep my mind open to this… adventure in our home.”

“Good.” Belle nodded at the pair of books that were stacked next to the register. One was obviously a magical tome, but the other was unrecognizable. It was plain and not well used, banded much like the modern encyclopedias of this world might be. The leather workmanship helped to label it as either an antique from this realm, or something unwanted from their own, a volume of reference, perhaps, a bland text, picked up for study and little else. “Were you planning to go through those?”

“I was about to,” he told her. “I thought, perhaps, we might find something-”

At this announcement, she snatched the set up with determination, tucked the books under the arm that also hooked through her shopping bag, then caught Rumple’s hand in her own. The sudden movement broke apart his thought and left him stammering in protest, but she paid no attention to the words. Belle simply marched him to the shop door and nodded at the sign that dangled from the glass.

“Home,” she insisted. “Just for a few hours.”

Dumbly, Rumple nodded and used the hand that held his cane to flip the sign to “Closed.” The golden handle tapped against the glass gently and Belle thought of the bowl, the sweets, and the idea that had risen from them. Once again she wanted to back down, but fought the urge, willing it away with the opening of the shop’s door.

Once they had exited, Belle released Rumple’s hand so that he could properly close up and moved to get settled in the car. She could feel him eying her warily, but forced herself to look straight on, clutching the books and the bag to her chest, careful not to let the heavier items crush the lighter. After a moment the familiar stride and tap came around the car, the door opened, and Rumple slipped in. She could tell he was still watching her with suspicion but now she didn’t care. The journey had begun. There was no stopping them now.

“Home?” He wondered again, presumably just to check her sanity.

Belle nodded. “Home.”

So he drove, following the familiar streets that would lead to their private sanctuary. They were silent for the journey, Rumple saying nothing even when the pink house came into view and he stopped the car in its usual place, killing the engine. Belle looked over at him then, and smiled. He was so wonderfully handsome, sitting still and awaiting her next desire. All of her adult life she had wondered what her married life would be like and now, in Storygrooke, she was slowly coming to understand the answer. Today that answer was her flitting around on a childish whim in the hopes that a man much more refined than herself might enjoy a moment wasted on such simplistic notions.

“Do you want me to wait in the car?”

Belle felt the color rise in her cheeks, but she shook her head. “No.” She took in a long breath and released it, then locked her eyes with his and allowed the calm brown depths to soothe her. “I need to get some things together before I’m ready, but you can come in.”

“Can I help?” Rumple held out his hand, nodding at the books she clutched to her chest.

She smiled and passed them over. “Just… wait on the sofa? Maybe start a fire?”

Before she could talk herself out of anything, Belle left the car and hurried inside to the kitchen, where she dropped the bag on the counter and began gathering the things they would need for tea. While she worked she listened for evidence of Rumple’s entry behind her, but heard nothing other than the clatter of the china and the sounds of her own hurried movements. It wasn’t until she had removed two serving bowls from their places that the slam of the car door rushed its way into their home, followed by Rumple’s slow steps and the gentle tap of his cane.

“Are you certain I can’t help with anything?” he offered once inside.

Belle looked around at the jumble of things she had collected and sighed. “Well, maybe a blanket from upstairs?”

Nodding, he held up the books, signaling that he still had them in his possession, then set them down on the kitchen island before leaving for the stairs. While he was gone she set to work preparing the tea and pouring the contents of the bag into the bowls and by the time Rumple returned everything was almost as she wanted it.

He stood in the sitting room, blanket draped over one arm, and eyed the arrangement of snacks on the coffee table. “Are we… expecting company for this adventure of yours?”

Cheeks burning with embarrassment, Belle shook her head and tried to smile through her uncertainties. “I thought it might be nice to spend some time in each other’s company.”

“Have I made you feel neglected?” His face was awash with worry all of a sudden and it pulled on Belle’s heart.

“Not at all. Rumple, you have always made me feel welcome here.”

He examined the room carefully before flicking a magical fire into existence in the hearth. “There must be something-”

“Rumplestiltskin,” Belle huffed. “I may have gone willingly to live with you, but you marched me away from my father’s life without much thought to my own. It isn’t something that I can explain, but today a simple bowl of candies made me realize that we never gave ourselves time for a proper courtship and I thought…” She gestured at the sofa with a sigh before lifting her eyes to meet his again. “I thought you might work here for a few hours while I read. The way you used to in the castle.”

She moved over to him and began to work the buttons of his suit free, making him chuckle. 

“I don’t recall being undressed while I worked.”

Belle grinned. “I just want you comfortable,” she explained as she pushed the jacket from his arms and moved to repeat the process until only his silk shirt remained. “Sit down and I’ll show you.”

Rumple followed her direction and settled into the corner of the sofa that she indicated, allowing Belle to move around to the kitchen and finish making the tea. His eyes followed her as best as they could while she went about her work, bringing the pot to sit on the small table in front of them, gathering his books from where he’d left them, and then plucking one of her own from a nearby shelf. When she turned, ready to join him where he sat, his expression made her heart skip in her chest.

“You used to look at me like that in the castle,” she told him. Feeling suddenly bashful, she ducked her head and a strand of her hair fell near her eyes. She lifted a hand to tuck it back behind her ear and caught the rise and fall of Rumple’s chest as his breath caught in a deep sigh.

“Probably because I couldn’t understand you,” he confessed as she crossed the room to sit next to him. “You weren’t like other women I’d known.” His hand reached up to caress the hair that had fallen as if it still needed to be put in its proper place. “I knew that nothing truly frightened you, and there was something in that fearlessness that captivated me even when I knew it was there.”

Belle leaned into the touch and closed her eyes. “How long had we loved each other before we knew?” She hadn’t expected the question, didn’t even know that it lived inside of her, but once it was out in the open she could recognize it as something that was at the heart of this rather unusual day.

“Longer than either of us chose to admit,” Rumple told her as his hand left her hair and she snuggled against him. He opened the blanket and draped it over her shoulders and she, in turn, wrapped a part of it over him until they were bundled together in a small pod of warmth. “I needed my power, and the few times I had love in the past ended with my not being wanted at all. The idea of you loving such a monster-”

“You weren’t a monster,” Belle insisted. Her head tipped up to study his face and she narrowed her eyes in frustration. When would this man get it through his head that she could see the man _behind_ the curse? “Being cursed by darkness doesn’t change the person you were before it claimed you. I _know_ there is good in you, just as I knew it then.”

The corners of Rumple’s mouth twitched as if he were trying to humor her with a smile. For a breath, Belle wondered if he would protest, but he kept silent, wrapping an arm around her under the blanket instead and guiding her so that their bodies pressed close. They fit perfectly against each other, as if they were always meant to be.

“Is this what you hoped for?” The deep rumble of the question in his chest came against her ear after several breaths of silence. “In the castle?”

Belle let a breath of a giggle escape her. “Maybe. I don’t really know what I was sure of at the time.”

A hand ran through the length of her hair, smoothing it tenderly. “I was wrong to press this on you, Belle. When I realized we might have another chance I moved on without giving any thought to how you might feel. To me you were never truly a maid, you were always… something more. At first someone I needed and then-”

“You don’t need to explain,” Belle told him before his words could turn the moment into something she didn’t want it to be.

“I should have given you time, courted you.” The words held so much else in their meaning that Belle could feel them filling the room and she shook her head, not allowing their pressure to change the moment she had prepared.

“We’re doing that now.” Reaching for her book, Belle pulled the small table closer and plucked a salted nut from the bowl. She lifted it to Rumple’s lips and he opened his mouth to allow the morsel in and her fingers brushed again the warmth of his skin, a soft, delicate touch.

They fell into a romantic kind of silence then, serenaded by the crackle of the fireplace, entertained by the dance of steam drifting from their tea. Yet in spite of these obvious movements, time seemed to still around them. Eventually Belle realized that Rumple had settled one of his books on the armrest at his side, opened to whatever page he had last studied. She heard the page turn once, then again, and glanced up to study his face. He seemed lost in thought, eyes drifting as they followed the words on the page, but at her movement they floated away and met her gaze and he granted her a gentle smile.

Worried her position blocked him from their refreshments, Belle started to pull away. “Can you reach your tea?”

Rumple’s arm held her in place while his free hand left the pages of his book to flick at the air, creating a small table that stood at the perfect height to match where his book was balanced. “Read, Sweetheart,” he whispered into her hair before lifting the cup to his lips. She knew it was a sip taken to prove he was settled and she smiled.

It took some small amount of arranging to make certain her own tea and their snacks were within reach, but once that was done, Belle settled back against Rumple and opened her own book to continue where she had left it. She could feel the heat of him through his shirt and the slow rise and fall of his chest that both lifted and caught her at the same time. Often she had heard tales of burning passions and heaving chests, but this single moment somehow captured more within it than any idea of love that had ever come to her before. Outside the hours passed through the day and the sun relinquished its hold on the sky, but the couple snuggled by the light of a magical fire, with their chipped cup and chosen books, became their own tale, caught in a blissful moment in time.


End file.
